Rotary engine



(No Model.)

W. & A. BERRBNBERG.

ROTARY ENGINE.

No. 387,551. Patented Mar. 9, 1886.

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WILLIAM BERRENBERG ANDA ADOLPH BERRENBERG, OF BOSTON, MASSA- CIIUSE'ITS, ASSIGNORS TO THE POSITIVE PUMP AND VATER METER COMPANY, OF KI'ITERY, MAINE. Y

ROTARY ENGINE.

SEECFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 337,551, dated March 9, 1886.

Application filed July 13,1885. Serial No. 171,518. (No model.)

To @ZZ whom it may concern:

Be it` known that we, W'ILLIAM BERREN- BERG and ADOLPH BERRENBERG, of Boston, in the county ot" Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Rotary Engines, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to duplex or two-shaft rotary engines having intel-meshing rotary pistons or cams; and it consists, in substance, in constructing the teeth of such pistons or cams separate therefrom and detachably attaching them thereto, and in constructing said teeth' for steam to be admitted to them, and from its pressure within them to expand them radially, and thus keep them in close bearing with the casing in which the pistons or cams rotate; in a construction of either head of the piston easing in two separate thicknesses, an outer and an inner, and the two attached, and the outer lapping over and secured to, and the inner preferably closely tting within the opening of, the end ofthe casing and continguous or next to the end of the pistous or cams, in combination with screws .or their equivalents, which are entered into and through the outer, and are arranged and all so as to enable the inner to be set up or adjusted in position relative to the ends of the pistons or cams, rst having loosened its attachment to the outer, and then after such adjustment to be secured in its so-adjusted position by tightening up its said attachment to the outer, all substantially as hereinafter described.

In the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, Figure l is in part a plan view and in part a horizontal section. Fig. 2 is a vertical section on line 2 2, Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a View in detail, on an enlarged scale, of a tooth of the rotary piston detached.

ln the drawings7 A A represent two cams or pistons. Each piston'has two teeth, B B,

and twov depressions or grooves, O O, all of similar and corresponding semicircular shape, and each is attached to and carried by a separate axle or shaft, D, each of which passes through and turns in the heads or ends E, each made double, or in two parts or layers, E E2, as hereinafter described, andthe part E, secured by screw-bolts F to the flanged and open ends G of the piston casing or cylinder H, and also passes through and turns in a stuffing'boX, J,all not only as to construction, but also as to operation from the admission of steam to the piston-cylinder through either of the steam; ports K L,according as either the one or the other is opened, from the adjustment or set of the slide-valve M in the steamchest N, and its escape therefrom at the exhaust-port O, except as hereinafter described, the same as ordinary and well known in this class of engines, and therefore needing no more particular description herein. Each piston-tooth B is made of a tube and separate from its piston, which has a semieireular seat, P, to receive it, and to which it is attached by a screw bolt or bolts, Q. passing through it and screwing into the piston, and thus each tooth is made attachable and detachable at pleasure, thereby enabling a tooth or teeth to be conveniently removed and replaced at pleasure, should it become necessary or desirable from its wear or from other cause. Again, each piston-tooth in its acting part proper-that is, in its partdirectly projecting from the piston and interineshing with the grooves of the other piston as the two pistons rotate--is in three separate concentric layers orthicknesses, a, b, and d, which are all continuous with the remainder or attached part of the tooth, and have two con- 'centric spaces, f g, between them, the one, f, inside of the other, g,and closed each to the other, but each having a separate port, h h2, making communication between it and the chamber R of the pistoncasing H, and in which the pistons rotate, and to which steam is admitted as stated. These ports h li2 are on opposite sides of the tooth,and thus in the operation of the engine, and whether steam is admitted t0 the piston-cylinder at either of its inlet-ports K L, communication is had for the steam so entered into the piston-easing to enter into either the spacef or the space g, as the case may be, of the piston-teeth.

Admission of steamto the spaces of the teeth as above stated-t-he separate layers of each tooth, being sufficiently flexible or elastic therefor-secures an outward or radial expansion of each tooth as the pistons rotate, and consequently operates to keep the teeth to a close bearing and contact with the periphery ofthe pistoncasing as the pistons rotate therein. The inner layer or part, E2, of the double head E E2 to each end of the pistoncasing;- tits within the opening,r S of the casing, and lies next to (preferably in close contact with) the ends of the piston-heads A, and by bolts T, attached to it, and passing,` loosely through the outer part, Rand a screw' nut. U, applied to each bolt, it is attached to said outer part, E.

V V are a series of set-screws screwing through the outer layer or part, E, of cach double head E E2, and brought to a bearing against the inner part, E?. Loosening the attachment of the inner head, E, to the outer head, E, by properly turning the screw-nuts U therefor, the inner head can then be ad- Ijusted as to its bearing upon or position in relation to the ends of the pistons A by turning the set-screws V in or out, as may be nec essary, and then the inner head secured in its so'adjusted position by tu ruing the screw-nuts U to a close bearing` against the outer head.

The construction of the heads to the pistoncasing and their attachment to each other and to the casingr herein described enables each head to be adjusted in its bearing against the cud ofthe pistons or cams from time to time, to compensate for wear, or other reasou,as may be desired, and without its detachment from the piston-casing.

The portion Wof each piston-shaft D, within its stuffingbox J, is of a conical shape, and has its bearing' in a similar conical-shaped metal boxing, X.

Y is an annular screw nut screwing` into the outercud ofthe stut'iingbox J and bearing against the outer end ot' the luetal boxingAr X, which, at its inner end, rests against a yielding cushion, Z, preferably a packing of' indiarubber or other suitable elastic material, located at the inner end of the stuffing-box.

The contact of the metal bearing-box X with the pistonshaft D is regulated bythe turning in or out of the scrcwnut Y, as is plain on inspection of the drawings and from the description given.

The invention herein described is not to be limited to the use of steam alone, but is to be applied to water or otherwise, according as it may be found applicable.

Having thus described our invention, we claim-- l. The combination, with rotating intermeshing pistons or cams of otherwise ordinary or suitable construction and arraugenient, of teeth B, separately made, and each of a tube fitted within a seat, l), of and attached to the piston, sl'ibstantially as dcscribed,for the pur pose specified.

2. The combination, with rotating interm eshiug,r pistons or cams of otherwise ordinary or suitable construction and arrangement, of teeth B, constructed substantially as shown, for the admission of steam thereto, and thereby to be expanded, substantially as described, for the purpose specified.

3. The combination, with rotating intermeshiugr pistons or cams of otherwise ordinary or suitable construction and arrangement, of teeth B, made in expansible layers (L Z1 d, separate by spaces f g, each closed to each other but haring a separate port. 7L h2. making communication with the chamber R ofthe piston-casingl'l', substantially as described, for the purpose specified.

In testimony whereof wc have hereunto set our hands in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

` WILLIAM BERRENBERG. AnoLrH nnnRnNnnnG.

Vtlitucsses:

ALBERT W. BROWN, WM. S. BELLoWs. 

